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Lost Hope
In Orbit around Klatooine- Alarm claxons and contact alarms sound on the bridges of all Rebellion ships as the Imperial fleet emerges from hyperspace to find a pair of dreadnaughts orbitting the planet. Both look the same from the outside, but one shows a bustle of activity on the inside. It is from this one that the familiar voice of Jornath Praloth comes from, "Imperial fleet, this is General Praloth of the J'rathi armed forces. This planet is under the temporary protection of the J'rathi, turn away or face the might of a full J'rathi battle fleet." comes the warning, just as five sleek, Djalin-class Cruisers shimmer to life around the Dreadnaught's form. The Dreadnaught turns its nose to face the oncoming Imperial vessels, and from concealed ports on one side of the vessel, strange fighter-class vessels emerge. Just past the edge of the Gravity well of Klatooine, the Imperial Armada begins to appear from Hyperspace. First to arrive are a pair of Imperial Star Destroyers, flanked by 8 support ships, a mixture of Frigates, Cruisers, and Corvettes. About a second later, 4 more Star Destroyers appear above the first two, each with their own support ships. A heartbeat later, another 4 Star Destroyers drop out of hyperspace, two on either side of the first two to arrive, bringing the total of 10 Imperial class Star Destroyers, and around 40 support vessels. A frown crosses the cuffed, medical gown wearing form of Kash as he stands on the bridge of one of the Star Destroyers. He looks around the bridge at the activity, then back to the viewscreen while he quietly attempts to turn his wrists and hands enough that he can maybe fiddle with the magnacuffs. He doesn't move a whole lot while doing this, trying to hide his movements by appearing to watch what is going on. He says nothing, not liking the whole situation one bit. A faceless stormtrooper stands to the side, and a bit behind of Kash Narr. Every few moments, Taqion's head turns to regard the Shistavanen before he looks back to the viewport. His rifle is held tightly against his chest, aiming at no one for the moment. "You strapped in in there, Dee?" Ruu calls into the ship's internal intercom, fingers flashing, dancing over the controls of her ship. The Sentinel looks similar to the Corellian-made CR90a Corvette, but is obviously modified far over stock specifications, the engines especially larger than usual. Her pale jaw all but drops as the sensor blips begin appearing, and she puts the corvette onto a course for the edge of the gravwell perpendicular to where the Imperial Fleet has just arrived. "No, no, no, no," she mutters, shaking her head vigorously. "Deke," she calls into the commlink, "Deke, this isn't good. We'll try to take anything that gets away from the main body of that fleet, but this is going to be a massacre. We should be *gone* already." "Ghost squadron, launch." is send over the Rebel's comm frequency by Cooper, sitting in the command chair on the Dreadnaught's bridge, "Fly in close formation around us. Do not stray. Engage any fighters that comes near us, but stay close to us!" he flips the mic off, "Get us out of here!" he says as the Dreadnaught's engines fire, turning them away from the fleet, and putting it on a course downward, and away from the Imperials. Clad in the almost completely black flightsuit of the Imperial Starfigter Corps, Janmes steps towards the gantry holding the TIE Alpha 1. After a quick visual inspection of the vessel, he pulls the black helmet over his head and takes a couple of moments to ensure that all the seals and connects are properly in place. A naval engineering crewman steps forward to help the pilot into the cockpit of the craft and then closes the hatch and ensures that it is properly sealed. Janmes clicks on his comm system, opening a channel with flight control. "Alpha Squadron is ready for launch." The comm channel clicks off once again and he busies himself with rechecking settings and gauges as he waits for the launch order. The Imperial Starships spread out their formation slightly, and then the tell-tale signs of proton torpedoes being fired appear. Hundreds of elongated blue dots begin emerging from the Imperial Fleet, all heading straight forward, as a wall of intense torpedo fire, while TIE Squadrons are ordered to launch as soon as the torpedoes are clear. Praloth glances around his bridge quickly, to the many clear-skinned J'rathi sitting at the consoles. "Ah know this ain' wha' most of ya wanna do, protectin' these Rebels.. But we've gotta. So I'll save ya th' long speech if ya gimme yer full obedience one last time." he says quickly, then looks out to the main viewscreen to watch the approaching torpedoes. "Alright, now it's time t'show th' Empire wha' a J'rathi fleet can do. Weapons, individually target each of th' torpedoes with ion and turbolaser batteries, and begin chargin' up th' pulse cannons fer volley fire." his head moves slightly to another officer as the weapons officer begins moving. "Communications, I want ya t' relay this before the Empire jams us. Have th' Cruisers move behind us after cloakin', then execute attack plan alpha. Tell th' fighters t' target some Corvettes after we get through th' missile barrage." and finally he looks to the Pilot. "Our weapons are gonna open us a nice little hole in th' barrage. We need t'fly through it. Do it." A short while later, all the commands are executed. The turbolasers each swing swiftly to begin targeting torpedoes, as the fighters move in close to the Dreadnaught. With all the alarms and the order from Cooper, it takes Sidd only a few moment to realize what is happening and the pilot sits up in his fighter, the Ghost Four. His hands begin to float over the control panel as the X-Wing begins to flicker to life and the canopy close around him. As the last system is powered up, the fighter begins to hover above its berth and fly out of the its Hangar Bay, though it does as its ordered and stays near the Dreadnaught it only recent undocked from, for now. Telal follows along behind Dylar, escoring Kash to the bridge of the Enforcer. From behind, he can clearly see what Kash is diong with the magnacuffs. "Keep messing with those, and I will put a hole thru your spine. You won't die, but you'll wish you did." he says, poking the large barrel of his T-21 heavy blaster rifle against Kash's lower back. By the time the radio traffic begins, and the Imperial Fleet arrives, Valin is already inside his ship, the Firespray-class, Misplaced Sorrow. As soon as the warning is issued from the J'rathi, the Jedi hits the controls before him, thrusters firing and pushing the Firespray up away from the planet. "I should have felt this coming." He muses quietly as the fighter makes best speed up through the atmosphere. Rolling clear of the planet as he runs. Not far behind the Sentinel. But heading upwards, still perpendicular to the Imperial Fleet. Alarm klaxons wail as Deke races down the Sentinel's corridors, teeth gritted in an adrenaline induced euphoria. The gambler tears open a hatch and all but throws himself into the gunport. He lands with a thud in the padded gunner's chair and clamps his hands around the dual trigger assembly; the weapon reverberates to life within his grasp. "I'm here," he gasps into his mic, "Fark! Never thought I'd die sober." Panels flash and alarms sound as the barrage of torpedos is loosed. "Hope you fly as good as you look, hun. Cuz otherwise we're in a world of shit." Dronosk rushes into the Sentinel moments after Deke, taking the other gunnery turret. He plops his scaly self into the chair while growling into his comm. "Dronosk in." He snorts as he hits a few buttons, a loud hum eminating amongst the alarms as the console powers up. The T'doshok mutters a few profanities in Dosh as he grasps the triggers. "Powered up and ready, Captain Ruu. Scorekeeper save us." The ISC Enforcer is one of the multitude of Imperial vessels that jump in-system. Her Captain, Wedge Antilles seated in the command chair at the center of the bridge. He turns towards one of the console officers with a short curse, "J'rathi. Activate the Phase two shielding." The Ensign at the console nods, "Aye Sir. Phase two shielding, coming online." The sounds from the Enforcers systems changes to a higher pitch, and outside, a light blue spot begins to grow on her shield perimeter. The almost solid looking spot grows to a twenty feet radius, then begins slowly drifting over the front portion of the vessels shielding. As the Cruiser drops into formation, the order to fire is given and the cruiser shudders, adding its own torpedos to the impressive salvo, and the intercom clicks, "Alpha Squadron. Launch." The cruisers gantries move to disgorge its cargo of TIE fighters. The J'rathi Dreadnaught's quick-firing turrets easily open a path through the screen of torpedos, as the Djalin-class cruisers shimmer back into nothingness. As soon as the explosions from the torpedos clear, the J'rathi dreadnaught is joining the battle with the Star Destroyers. Bright beams of blue-white light shimmer to life between the Dreadnaught and the lead Star Destroyer, the first pair of immense beams splashing against the shielding of the immense craft, while the second pair blast apart the bridge and burn a hole through the hull, slicing deep towards the reactor core, causing it's hull to ripple and then the entire craft to become engulfed in hundreds of explosions before finally breaking up completely. The J'rathi fighters move from their position tightly around the dreadnaught, to join battle with several of the Corvettes that accompany the Star Destroyers. The Cruisers, however, are nowhere to be seen. A few moments after the ISD is destroyed, a massive shape emerges from hyperspace, dwarfing the entire pair of fleets doing battle before it. It's smooth-looking, dark gray surface bristles with countless turbolaser batteries, and as it moves slowly towards the planet in front of it, its massive crater-like dish begins to rotate to face the planet. Kash lays his ears back, stopping messing with the cuffs that bind his hands. "The question, Private De'vin, is do I care." He looks back at the viewport, shaking his head, "I am beginning to believe, that my death would have been preferable to what is about to take place before us." He then looks back at the Trooper, "I think it would have been fun, to dance just once, with some of the toys I had aquired. Never got the chance to." He is paying close attention to just how many are guarding him, and then how many are on the bridge. His gaze finally turns back to the viewport, a silent sigh on his lips, "Why are they still here?" Color starts to drain from his skin as he sees a change on one of the screens, a whispered, "No, and then louder, "No you bastards, the people on there are innocent!" He starts to step away from his guards. "Where do you think you're going?" Taqion asks emotionlessly, turning to face the Shistavanen as it begins to move away. He slowly brings the barrel of the E-11 to bear upon Kash Narr, though in a casual manner. "You're staying here, scum." If Ruu could get goosebumps, now would be the time that it would happen. The pale twi'lek's skin might be a shade paler as she pushes the accelerator, trying in vain to make the ship go faster than it already is, vibrating loudly as it accelerates to top speed. Gritting her teeth, she says nothing through the Sentinel's intercom to her pair of gunners, moving the ship's perpendicular angle to the incoming fleet to a more... obtuse one. Ruu may not can get goosebumps, but Cooper has them. His usually light tanned skin pales to white. "Oh, shit." Cooper says as the new contact emerges from hyperspace, then speaks into the Rebel freq, "Ghost squadron, if any of those torpedos comes near us, take 'em out, but don't stray far!" he looks up towards the viewport at the battle, then flicks on the internal intercom, "Attention all engineers. You probally know what's happening now, so I'll keep it short so you can get back to your duties: Get our shields and weapons online as fast as you can. Work faster than you thought possible." The dreadnaught DRD Iron Hand continues on her course out of the gravwell, downward, and away from the Imperial fleet. He engines are running at full power. "And try to get more power from the engines!" he says over the intercom. Immediately upon receiving approval to launch, Janmes reaches down with his left hand, tapping the activation switch to fire up his engines and repulsorlifts. The Alpha 1 drifts out of the ISC Enforcers Hangar Bay accompanied by the rest of Alpha Squadron. "Alpha Squadron, on me", comes Janmes' voice over the comms as the Twin Ion Engines of his small craft suddenly glare brilliantly propelling him rapidly to cruising speed. The other vessels follow suit and within moments each of the squadron members reports in. The Squadron proceeds rapidly in the wake of the barrage of proton torpedoes eager to engage the enemy vessels. As the J'rathi Dreadnaught clears a path through the Barrage and releases its payload of fighters, the comm clicks on, "Alpha Squadron, lets take a bite out of those fighters. Two, you're with me, Three and Four, follow a standard attack pattern." The comm clicks off for a second, then back on, "Until we get other orders, keep your distance from the dreadnaught." Dylar slowly enters the bridge and look to Kash, "You will die when it serves us for you to do so." he says calmly and coldly though his helmet's filter. The large Darktrooper slowly moves up behind Kash to within arm's reach. The fight going on before them on the view port reflecting off the mirrored lenses of the trooper's helmet as he folds his arms acros his chest, his rather large rifle resting in his folded arms. Telal raises the barrel of his T-21, keeping it trained on Kash's back, "This is your final warning Shistavenen. Move again, and I will kill you here and now, sending you to whatever hellish afterlife you alien filth believe in." Emphasising his statement, his rifle emits a high pitched whine as he flips a switch, powering it up to full power. Quickly, he glanced over at Dylar, then back to the monitor showing the Death Star, "Isn't it beautiful, Sergeant?" With his hands shaking from the excitement of the moment, Sidd drops his fighter back in a position between him and the torpedoes heading for the Dreadnaught. The fighter pilot glances back and forth between the couple of screens in front of him, watching and waiting, as he follows behind the ship from whence he came, ready to fly into action at any moment. Peering at the sensor readout in front of him, Valin shakes his head slowly, "The better part of valor..." The Jedi mutters to himself, as he pushes the throttle full forward, the Firespray jumping forward and arcing around Klatooine, directly away from the Imperial Fleet. He continues to keep the fighter drifting from side to side, eyes locked on the sensor data, searching for anything following. The 9 remaining Imperial Star Destroyers begin slowly moving to bear down on the J'rathi Dreadnaught fully. The support ships and corvettes also begin to pour their fire onto the dreadnaught's form. Between the fleet and the dreadnaught, an immense amount of green and red bolts move, each striking the shields of the other. The Dreadnaught, however, is barely visible through the intense volume of firing done. Praloth winces as the dreadnaught begins receiving massive amounts of fire. "Hold t'gether.." he murmurs to the ship, and he watches his crew. "As soon as th' cannons are recharged, target another Star Destroyer 'n fire. Hopefully we'll get the Rebels enough time to get outta here." he says to the Weapons officer. He looks to the comm officer. "Signal the Rebels that we're not gonna be following them." he says icily. "And that they should fully retreat." and he looks to a human computer officer. "Delete all records of J'ra from th' database. If th' Imperials manage t' pick up our core, I don't want them going there." The Enforcer breaks formation as the last of its TIE's clear the gantries, blending into the semi-organized chaos that is the Fleet engagement, Wedge stands, looking back to Telal, "You start firing blasters on my bridge during an engagement. You best be precise." He looks back to his screens as the ships turbolasers lance out at any targets that come in range. The space in front of the Imperial Cruiser ripples suddenly, one of the J'rathi cruisers decloaking before it to fire, a pulse cannon blast flashing out at the Imperial Cruiser. Wedge drops back into his chair, "Brace for impact." The order is relayed around the ship as the hit is taken, but surprisingly, the blue spot of shielding moves to where the J'rathi weapon strikes, the ship shuddering, but her shields holding. Turbolasers from the Enforcer fire, raking across the offending J'rathi cruiser before it recloaks, disappearing from sight. Dronosk, who is incapable of goosebumps, growls as the Sentinel changes positions. He swivels around in the chair, ready to aim the guns at any fighters that come his way. Claws keep very close to the triggers as the T'doshok hunter's mind goes into combat mode. Deke utters every dirty word he's ever heard in all the scum pits of the galaxy. A bright display reflects off his worried face, spitting out all sorts of numbers and jargon in regards to velocity and lead. He ignores them, biting down on his lower lip, and unleashes barrage after barrage into the hailstorm of torpedos. Elohna sits in the cockpit of the T/I Alpha 2 running her last second checks of the systems as Janmes' command comes of the Radio. As Jamnes pulls out she punches the throttle accelerating out of the Hanger bay of the enforcer right behind Janmes followed in turn by the other TIEs from the Enforcer. As the J'rathi Dreadnaught's shields begin to buckle under the combined force of all those turbolasers, its main weapons once again lash out at its attackers. The bright blue beams leap towards another Star Destroyer, buckling its shields and burning a pair of holes straight to its reactor core. The fighters fare well against the Corvettes, each pair of fighters in the squadron breaking off to concentrate their pulse cannon fire onto a single target. One by one the Corvettes take the accurate hits hard, while TIEs begin to get on the tails of the slower, but more heavily armed and armored, fighters. The J'rathi fighters have a surprise, however, as the TIEs begin firing at them. From each of the fighters' tail-sections, a small ion turret emerges, firing back at the surprised pilots and sending several of the shieldless fighters spinning out into space. The Scarred one lays his ears back as the weapon whines as it powers up behind him. "Wouldn't want you to damage or accidently shoot someone else." He looks at Taqion, scowling at those eyeplates in his helmet, "Could you move fast enough if Private De'vin fired? The shot from that thing should have no problem cutting through me without loosing power." He clamps his jaw, a glance given to Dylar, "And I am not your Shistavanen to call." He takes another step, this time closer to Taqion. The stormtrooper, Taqion, pushes the barrel of the E-11 against Kash's torso as the Shistavanen nears him. "Back off," he says coldly, his voice altered by the filters in his helmet. He sends a glance to Dylar, as if unsure of what to do. A crewman on the bridge relays Praloth's message to Cooper. His eyes water slightly, and he blinks several times to clear them. "Signal Praloth that...that we won't forget this." he says, glancing at the crewmember, then towards a sensor display showing the battle. The viewport, a strange view considering the battle raging outside, shows empty space due to the Dreadnaught's course away from the Imperial fleet. The Sentinel reaches her maximum velocity, hull shaking as her powerful engines thrust the ship through the vacuum of space toward the soon-to-be-former planet Klatooine's gravity well. "I put too much faith in Kash Narr, it seems," the twi'lek at the helm says through the ship's internal intercom. She glances toward the ship's navicomputer display. "Anyone got any good ideas on where to head off to when we jump? Middle of a star, perhaps?" Janmes listens to the comm chatter for a second, while watching his sensor readouts. His comm clicks on, "Watch out for those tail gunners", he calls to the rest of the Squadron, then adds for his wingman, "Lets get to it." That said he rolls to the left and attempts to drop onto the pair of J'rathi fighters, from above. However, the J'rathi pilot continues to jink and Janmes is unable to get a weapons lock. Rather than fall into a tail chase, he pulls up early and taps his throttles in order to keep him out of the tail gunners cone of fire. Dylar mumbles into his comm as he immediatly begins to march after Kash, a large armored hand reaching out to grab the Shist's shoulder, "You will do what I say, when I say it... deadman." he comments, his voice, though filtered, is icily cold and serious as is the visage of his helmet, which shines slightly, apparently having just been cleaned. The trooper moves his large rifle back over his shoulder with his free hand where it rests in place for the time being. Having enough of merely watching his three screens, Sidd pulls on the flightstick, forcing the Ghost Four to do a complete turn around. The fighter pilot then squeezes fire button, causing the four laser tip of the X-Wing to fire at the Torpedoes. But when his fighter begins to stray a fair enough distance from the Dreadnaught, he pulls on the flightstick once more, speeding up to close the distance between him and the Dreadnaugt. Little else occupies the mind of Valin now, but escape. The Firespray flees the planet as fast as possible, heading for the edge of the gravity well, he closes his eyes a moment, sending out a brief telepathic warning as far as his senses stretch, for other Jedi to avoid the system, or to flee. He continues to incorporate light evasive maneuvers into his course, as a precaution, drifting from side to side, rolling occasionally. Javak is apparently preparing for some kind of boarding action. He is just zipping up the padded, climate controlled body glove that goes underneath of an AV-1S, his Blackjack and his equipment belt, along with the actual power suit, arrayed neatly in front of him, in the equipment storage area of the Sentinel's engine room. He reaches out, and punches the intercom button, stating, "How about... Anyplace that's not here?" He then begins the long, laborious process of pulling on the suit proper. Telal stumbles ever so slightly as the ship is hit by the J'rathi vessel, but manages to stay on his feet. At Kash's words, he slings his T-21 back over his shoulder, and draws out a DL-44 blaster pistol from a holster on his thigh, raising it towards the creature, "Quiet down, and behave yourself like a good puppy." The J'rathi Dreadnaught's hull begins accepting damage from the attacking vessels, and as soon as it does the ship's massive engines cease to glow. Only one dancing blue-white beam appears from the Dreadnaught's weapons now, lancing out to strike the ship it's turbolasers have been pelting, the ISD Revenge. The pulse cannon's blast pierces through the shields and carves a scar deep onto the battlecruiser's hull before falling silent, along with the rest of the Dreadnaught's guns. Seconds later, there is a fierce energy buildup at the reactor core of the J'rathi flagship, and the entire ship is engulfed in a massive fusion reaction as it's reactor goes critical. Davis steps into the bridge of the Enforcer, E-11 in hand. "Upon hearing that we're engaging the J'rathi, I took the liberty of loading up half the 10th on the shuttles. The other half is prepared to repel boarders, though I doubt they'll be needed," the Corporal announces emotionlessly over his helmet speaker. "A squad should be able to remove one of their cruisers from the battle without an issue, if you can get us aboard. A platoon a dreadnaught, no issue. They're worthless against shock troops." He continues to move inward towards Telal. "Who's the prisoner?" The Enforcer swings around, heading in support of its own TIE's, the cruiser moving to protect some of the smaller fleet elements, turbolasers lancing out at the small J'rathi fighter craft. The blue spot flickers position almost constantly on the outer shielding bubble, seeming to center where J'rathi pulse weaponry is aimed. It does not always make it in time, but the cruisers shields seem to be holding up much better than some of the other battered looking Imperials. "Keep it up. Watch for those cruisers." Wedge states calmly to the Enforcers bridge crew just before the Dreadnaught explodes, the lights flickering a moment as the shockwave hits. A ragged cheer echoes through the bridge, as they bank once more, turbolasers lashing out at a J'rathi fighter. "Your choice is as good as mine, Captain." Dronosk snarls as he lets fly a volley of energy bolts at passing fighters. "Are we... what is the Basic term... 'screwed', as of yet?" The T'doshok swivels his chair around to aim at another group of fighters and fire. Elohna moves fast, top speed for the Interceptor, her jade eyes scans her scanners through the black eye holes of her helmet. She clicks on the radio, "I am going to see if I help can stop these blockade runners from escaping, aim for the engines.", she says to her wingman as she rolls Ninety-degrees and pulls up on the controls moving to intercept the Sentinel as it tries to make it's escape. "I don't care where we go," Deke murmurs, his turret swiveling to face the battle as the Sentinel banks, "Just so long as there's booze." Sweat has begun to bead upon the rogue's brow, but he ignores it, depressing both triggers in rapid succession. The turbolaser barrels spit their arsenal into the fray, blanketing all lines of pursuit in arcing red streamers. As the remains of the Dreadnaught begin to drift apart, there is a shimmer in space around one of the remaining Imperial Star Destroyers. All at once, all five of the Djalin-class cruisers decloak and make a strafing run on the bridge of the Destroyer. As the last one fires it's barrage, the powerful beams break through the shields and armor, carving into the Bridge deeply and sucking most of the command crew out into space. As the cruisers begin to shimmer into space again, the rest of the Star Destroyers fire volleys of turbolasers into the space around them. In a matter of seconds, each of the 5 cruisers has broken up. The looming round battle station halts in its progress, a few of the J'rathi fighters attempt to assault the station as it lines up its main weapon on the planet below, but are swatted almost efortlessly from space by the multitude of turbolasers firing from the curved grey surface. As the dish-like depression centers on the planet the station flashes the Imperial Fleet a warning, and green lines lance out from the edge of the crater, focusing into a single beam, the weapon strikes out at Klatooine from the Death Star, cutting directly through the core of the planet. The sandy planet puts up a valiant fight, long fissures appear in the surface, sand rushing into huge rents in the Earth, but with a sudden violence the surface expands, chunks of rock and glassed sand drifting away from the impact point the only reminder of the planet that hung but minutes ago in its place. Perhaps it is the J'rathi Dreadnaught's destruction, or the planets, but Kash starts moving, ducking under the hand that Dylar is reaching out towards him with, his body spinning as he attempts to force Taqion of fire by trying to move his hands over his on the trigger of the E-11. If any of it works, he is going to shoot the Trooper directly behind him, Telal, while using Taqion as a shield. The faceless stormtrooper keeps his grasp on the rifle strong, preventing the Shistavanen from grabbing it, or ,for that matter, manipulating it at all. Taqion takes a quick step back, then brings the E-11 up to aim at Kash again. This time, the white-armored figure pulls the trigger, launching a pair of blue bolts at the creature. As Kash moves, so does Davis, taking a step towards the Shistavenan. Just as Taqion fires, the Corporal does the same by mere reflex, not taking the time to switch the bolts from kill to stun - merely flicking the safety to kill as he's been trained. His finger caresses the trigger, and bolts of fiery red materialize and lash out towards the alien. "Goodbye, my friend." Cooper whispers as his sensor display lights up with the explosion of the J'rathi Dreadnaught. Then a vastly larger explosion is displayed on the screen, and he says, "So it happens again." The Dreadnaught commanded by Cooper continues on it's course for the edge of the gravwell. "ETA until we're out of the gravwell?" he asks, looking towards the navigator. The twi'lek at the helm of the Sentinel taps absently on her navigational console, peeling away from the engagement behind the ship. "Well, the gravwell's coming up. We don't have much of a choice," she says into the intermal comms, and begins punching a course into the navicomp, calculating a hyperspace jump toward Hutt-controlled space. Janmes speaks briefly into his comm then rolls across the tail cone of the slow moving but heavily armed J'rathi fighter, his wingman following suit. As he crosses about the midpoint his fighter locks on and he looses a quad-linked burst of blaster fire towards the other ship. The shots fly just under the hull of the J'rathi fighter and the ships tail-gunner returns fire. However, the Alpha 1's motion quickly carries it through the firing cone and out the other side, leaving the ion burst sizzling through empty space. Telal doesn't even get a chance to fire as Davis and Taqion take down Kash. After a moment, he nods, and holsters his DL-44, "I was tired of hearing his whining anyway..." Javak slides into the bottom half of the armor, and then quickly makes the connections between the leggings and the tall, powered boots, nodding once as each tiny green tell-tale lights up, before he slides the small covers into place over each one. Next comes the chest plate and upper arms, which he slithers quickly into. As this piece locks into place, the armor begins to hum softly, as the servo motors begin receiving power. Sidd pales as he watches the planet explodes in one of his viewscreens, but focuses back on any action around him as he pulls his flightstick back in order to engage any of the Torpedoes that may still be following the Dreadnaught. He fires a couple of rounds of the X-Wing's quadruple lasers before turning back around and speeding up. The Misplaced Sorrow is pushed to its limits, the fighter nearing the edge of the gravwell when the planet suddenly billows out, ceasing to exist. After a wince Valin immediately punches a code into the control panel, gritting his teeth, he pulls a lever with a white knuckled grip, the ship banking slightly before the light and sensor readout shows the Firespray has jumped into hyperspace, not heading for any known system. Dylar grunts as Kash Narr falls to the ground dead. The trooper stands straight and looks the body over, "You apparently weren't listening." he says calmly as he kneels down and draws out his combat knife which he quickly shoves into the Shist's throat and draws it back out, wiping anything that came back out on the wolf's clothes, "Just to make sure." he says coldly. Dronosk grunts satisfactorily as a bolt of energy catches a lone TIE fighter, which spirals around in space before exploding. He settles a litte as the Sentinel prepares to take off into hyperspace. A blip flashes across Deke's gunnery readout; a fighter, breaking off from the rest in hot pursuit. With a grimace he turns to meet it guns ablaze. "Check starboard! We got company." Unsteady hands attempt to zero in on Elohna's TIE and blast it right out of existence. His back to the former planet, the destruction of Klatooine goes unnoticed in Deke's distracted mind. The ISC Enforcer turns, much of the remaining Fleet following as they blast their way towards the escaping Dreadnaught. Luckily, for the Rebels, the lumbering ISD's and Cruisers are not much faster than the Dreadnaught itself. Wedge frowns faintly out the viewscreen as the chunks of planet hit the shielding, causing a light glow to envelop the vessel. Apparently ignoring the shots behind him as he gives a series of sharp orders to bring the ship around, ending with, "Reload the tubes. Now that the planet is gone..nothing is stopping their jump. If they have a good hyperspace navigator on board." The Strike Cruisers engines flare, pushing it in pursuit of the enemy fleet as the torpedo tubes slowly reload. Thane Aiden soars on the starboard side of the Deadnaught he was ordered to guard keeping it no less and no more then 30 klicks away when suddenly he sees the green shaft leap forth from the spherical station and strike the reddish yellow planet. "Sithspit," he breaths as the light of the explosions flashes in his eyes. He watches as the explosion erupts and the chunks of planet drift off from the center while still holding a straight course. His attention snaps back to the battle. She sets her weapons to consecutive fire and begins locking on with her targeting computer then looks up to see that she's being fired upon and banks to the right hard. The profile of the ship allows the blaster fire to rip holes through before taking off the two Solar panels on the TIE Interceptor's left side. Her console begins flashing as the ships engines loose power, setting her adrift in space. The first fragments of Klatooine begin to reach the ships; small pieces right now, easily absorbed by the shields they hit. Less than a minute out, the larger pieces can be seen coming on sensors. Taqion slowly brings the rifle back over his chest, satisfied with the result of his, and his comrades', fire. His helmet turns back to the viewport, permitting him to gaze out into space at the remains of Klatooine. Davis's helmet sweeps around the bridge of the Enforcer, obviously merely having primed the pump with the latest act of violence. "Shuttles wasted? We outta cripple one of the J'rathi bastards, capture that cannon tech for the Empire. I'll be disappointed if only the vacuum suckers get all the fun this time 'round." "Ghost quadron, jump when we do." Cooper says over the Rebel comm frequency, hoping it gets past the Imperial jamming. With Klatooine gone, nothings left to generate a gravwell, and therefore, nothing stopping him from jumping. Also, it means planetary debris is sailing through space towards the Dreanaught. The smallest, and therefore the fastest, aren't stopped by shields. They collide with the Dreadnaught's hull, the outer plating absorbing the impact, keeping damage to a minimum. Cooper bolts upright from his chair, pointing a finger straight forward, at the space displayed through the viewport. "Jump!" he yells as the hyperdrive engages, the force pushing Cooper back down into his seat. The DRD Iron Hand jumps into hyperspace, moments before the larger debris can collide with it's unshielded hull. The Imperial Admiral turns towards the communications officer of the Revenge, "Lieutenant, signal the rest of the fleet to back off at half speed. Our shields will not withstand multiple bombardments from those rocks." The communication officer nods, and quickly activates the fleet comm unit, "All ships, fall back. Repeating, all ships, this is the Revenge, fall back at half speed." Lennix Ruu reaches toward a lever jutting up from the Sentinel's navigational controls, leaning in her chair to reach it. "Brace yourselves," she says into the ship's internal commlinks, though she barely gives anyone enough time to do just that before she tugs back on this lever. The stars through the ship's viewports seem to stretch radially outwardward toward the jump vector, their bright white points seeping into a blueish colour as the Sentinel dissapears into hyperspace. Janmes is just preparing to fire another volley at the J'rathi fighter when the calls comes over the Comm. With a sigh he clicks on the squad comm channel, "You heard the man, lets get out of here. Check in as you go.", he calls out over the channel before pulling back his flightstick and pushing his throttle to the stops as he disengages from the slower vessel and heads at top speed away from the disintegrating planet. Telal shakes his head slightly, glancing at the dead body on the bridge, then towards Dylar, "I am not carrying him again Sarge... he smelled bad enough while alive." Javak sighs softly as the ship jumps away into hyperspace, though he nearly falls over because of the sudden accerleration. He quickly removes the armor, stowing it back into the locker. He fastens his blaster belt around the waist of the nearly skin tight body glove, before he slips his feet into his combat boots. He grabs his Blackjack and then heads up to the bridge. Once there, he walks up behind Ruu and sets one hand lightly on her shoulder, before he whispers, "We made it. Nice pilotin'... Lennix." The first time he has called her by her actual name. Sidd, weaving around some of the small debris from what was Klatooine, places a gloved hand on a lever beside him, pushing it forward. As the pilot does so, his X-Wing begins to gain tremendous speed which pushes him back against his seat, as the Ghost Four enters into hyperspace shortly after the Iron Hand. Dylar glances out of the view screen to watch the ships depart, his mirrored lenses again reflecting the space of the view screen before they turn and reflect Kash's body. The trooper tilts his head slightly before he slowly bends down and hefts the large carcass over his shoulder, "This thing got an airlock we can throw it out of?" he asks calmly "Yeeeeehawh!!" Deke's whoop floods the Sentinels's comm channels as he sends Elohna's TIE spiraling away, but it is a hollow victory. For it is at that moment that he becomes aware of the influx of space debris, and the glaringly absent planet. The man deflates, heaving a deep sigh and turning away from his viewport. After entering hyperspace the gambler climbs out of the turret, and shuffles morosely into the bridge whereupon he lays a hand on the twi'lek's other shoulder. "Smooth flyin', cap'n." There is little mirth in his tone, and he releases her to slouch into the copilot's seat. The Iron Hand leaps out of real space and at the same time Thane dips his X-Wing enough to be missed by a rather large chunk of debris. Then on the same escape vector as the Dreadnaught he punches the hyper drive engines into life. The four propulsion cylinders flash and the next instant the ship disappears from sight. Once away Thane relaxes a bit and lets out a long breath. "You heard the man! Keep pace with our assigned Star Destroyer. Comms, tell our TIE's to dock while we're in transit,", Captain Antilles says from his command chair, "and tractor in our disabled TIE's. If we can't reach, send out the Lambda to tow them back." "This is the Elohna in the Alpha 2, I have been hit. My engines aren't responding ,I need pickup.", she says activating her distress beacon. "I'm not dragging him either." Taqion words emotionlessly through the filters in his helmet. He continues to stare through the viewport of the Enforcer. After a few moments, he shifts slightly to stare down at the corpse of Kash Narr. The Formidable, the Enforcer's Lambda, launches from the hanger, and takes off at top speed towards Alpha 2. Upon reaching the disabled craft, it matched speed and heading with the balistic ship, and latches on with its tractor beams. It then gradually turns with the ship in tow, and heads back towards the Strike Cruiser, "This is ILS Lambda, returning to the Enforcer with Alpha 2 in tow." "Since when do Privates tell their Sergeant what they will and won't do?" Davis growls as gruffly as his speaker allows at Taqion and Telal, only to hear Antilles' orders to pull out. "Shit," he says equally as irritably, turning to the two Privates. As his right hand slips the safety back on his E-11, his other hand points at each of the Stormtroopers. "Congratulations, the two of you are cleanin' out the shuttles until they shine. And I mean shine." Cooper closes his eyes, and sighs as he runs his left hand through his hair, the tension of the battles being released. His eyes open, and he looks towards the comm officer, "Signal the Sentinel. Arrange a rendezvous point with her. Also, signal Ghost squadron to hang tight - we'll reel them in once we exit hyperspace to make course corrections." Janmes brings the Alpha 1 safely into the Enforcer's Hangar bay, cursing slightly as he does. As the vessel is being secured in its gantry he carefully removes his helmet then climbs out of his cockpit. Category:Reach of the Empire Logs